Record traffic for Dow Jones web sites

Dow Jones & Co.’s business news web sites reported higher traffic in August, according to data from Omniture Inc.

The WSJ Digital Network, which includes the websites WSJ.com, MarketWatch.com, Barrons.com and AllThingsD.com, attracted nearly 17.9 million unique visitors, an increase of 21 percent from the previous year. The sites generated 424.7 million page views in total, an increase of 40 percent from the previous year.

WSJ.com increased page views by 22 percent and unique visitors by 31 percent year-over-year. Coverage of presidential election politics and technology-related news spurred the growth, as did traffic generated by blogs covering these subjects. Interactive graphics connected to real estate and technology stories were also popular, the company said.

MarketWatch.com increased page views by 45 percent and unique visitors by 23 percent from the previous year. News of the economy, interest rates, subprime lending, hedge funds and Apple’s new iMacs were among the traffic drivers.

Barron’s Online increased page views by 181 percent and unique visitors by 291 percent year-over-year, as the site’s redesign and additional daily video from Barron’s journalists resonated with users. Eric Savitz‘s Tech Trader Daily blog drew higher traffic amid heavy activity in the technology sector.

The company did not provide specific visit and page view data for each site.

Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.